INDUSTRY, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries Minister Audley Shaw says an aggressive fruit tree planting programme will be implemented over the next five years.

As part of this initiative, dubbed the Greening of Jamaica, the Jamaica 4-H Clubs will make available the first one million seedlings over the next year.

“We want to plant one million fruit trees per year over the next five years and at the end of five years, five million fruit trees must be planted in Jamaica,” he said.

The minister was making his 2018/2019 Sectoral presentation in the House of Representatives on May 1 under the theme ‘Building Resilience, Securing our Future’.

Additionally, Shaw said a public-private partnership will be included as a component of the tree-planting programme.

“It will cost about $1.5 billion in seedlings, but the private sector wants to come on board and support us. This had environmental positives such as the improvement to soil and air quality (to) increase rainfall, reduce our carbon footprint, bolster community togetherness and provide a healthier alternative food source,” he said.

Shaw informed that the programme will be supported by the refurbishing of markets in order to “stimulate greater interest in purchasing locally produced fruits, tubers and vegetables in a decent shopping environment”.

The Government will spend $400 million islandwide to refurbish all markets across the island.

Meanwhile, Shaw pointed out that he plans to establish 4-H clubs in all secondary and primary schools in Jamaica, which will represent an additional 250 schools.

Currently, the Jamaica 4-H Clubs operates in over 1,100 schools with more than 104,000 club members in Jamaica, making it the second largest in the world.